Solution 1:

As per Android Documentation RecyclerView is the new way to organize the items in listview and to be displayed horizontally

Advantages:

  1. Since by using Recyclerview Adapter, ViewHolder pattern is automatically implemented
  2. Animation is easy to perform
  3. Many more features

More Information about RecyclerView:

  1. grokkingandroid.com
  2. antonioleiva.com

Sample:

survivingwithandroid.com

Just add the below block to make the ListView to horizontal from vertical

Code-snippet

LinearLayoutManager layoutManager= new LinearLayoutManager(this,LinearLayoutManager.HORIZONTAL, false);
mRecyclerView = (RecyclerView) findViewById(R.id.recycler_view);
mRecyclerView.setLayoutManager(layoutManager);

Solution 2:

Paul doesn't bother to fix bugs of his library or accept users fixes. That's why I am suggesting another library which has similar functionality:

https://github.com/sephiroth74/HorizontalVariableListView

Update: on Jul 24, 2013 author (sephiroth74) released completely rewritten version based on code of android 4.2.2 ListView. I must say that it doesn't have all the errors which previous version had and works great!

Solution 3:

@Paul answer links to a great solution, but the code doesn't allow to use onClickListeners on items children (the callback functions are never called). I've been struggling for a while to find a solution and I've decided to post here what you need to modify in that code (in case somebody need it).

Instead of overriding dispatchTouchEvent override onTouchEvent. Use the same code of dispatchTouchEvent and delete the method (you can read the difference between the two here http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/ui-events.html#EventHandlers )

@Override
public boolean onTouchEvent(MotionEvent event) {
    boolean handled = mGesture.onTouchEvent(event);
    return handled;
}

Then, add the following code which will decide to steal the event from the item children and give it to our onTouchEvent, or let it be handled by them.

@Override
public boolean onInterceptTouchEvent(MotionEvent ev) {
    switch( ev.getActionMasked() ){
        case MotionEvent.ACTION_DOWN:
             mInitialX = ev.getX();
             mInitialY = ev.getY();             
             return false;
        case MotionEvent.ACTION_MOVE:
             float deltaX = Math.abs(ev.getX() - mInitialX);
             float deltaY = Math.abs(ev.getY() - mInitialY);
             return ( deltaX > 5 || deltaY > 5 );
        default:
             return super.onInterceptTouchEvent(ev);
    }
}

Finally, don't forget to declare the variables in your class:

private float mInitialX;
private float mInitialY;

Solution 4:

Since Google introduced Android Support Library v7 21.0.0, you can use RecyclerView to scroll items horizontally. The RecyclerView widget is a more advanced and flexible version of ListView.

To use RecyclerView, just add dependency:

com.android.support:recyclerview-v7:23.0.1

Here is a sample:

public class MyActivity extends Activity {

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.my_activity);

        RecyclerView recyclerView = (RecyclerView) findViewById(R.id.my_recycler_view);

        LinearLayoutManager layoutManager = new LinearLayoutManager(this);
        layoutManager.setOrientation(LinearLayoutManager.HORIZONTAL);
        recyclerView.setLayoutManager(layoutManager);

        MyAdapter adapter = new MyAdapter(myDataset);
        recyclerView.setAdapter(adapter);
    }
}

More info about RecyclerView:

  • https://developer.android.com/training/material/lists-cards.html
  • https://developer.android.com/reference/android/support/v7/widget/RecyclerView.html

Solution 5:

This is a little (very) late, but I'm posting this in case someone comes by this later.

The Support Library as of the Android L preview has a RecyclerView that does exactly what you want.

Right now, you can only get it through the L preview SDK and you need to set your minSdk to L. But you can copy all of the necessary files into your project and use them that way until L is officially out.

You can download the preview docs here.

Warning: The API for Recycler View may change and it may have bugs.

Updated

The source code for horizontal listview is:

LinearLayoutManager layoutManager
    = new LinearLayoutManager(this, LinearLayoutManager.HORIZONTAL, false);

RecyclerView myList = findViewById(R.id.my_recycler_view);
myList.setLayoutManager(layoutManager);